Garth Brooks has concluded his exclusive arrangement with Wal-Mart and will once again make his works available through all retail channels, Billboard.biz has learned.
The country star is also understood to be prepping a slate of releases. According to retail sources, Brooks will issue a three-disc boxed set, “The Ultimate Garth Brooks,” that will street either Nov. 6 or 13. The set will contain a 34-track, two-CD greatest hits retrospective with four new songs, and a DVD with videos, many of them recently filmed, for all tracks on the CDs.
In addition, Brooks is re-releasing his catalog titles, some of which have been on moratorium at general retail since 1998.
Brooks split from Capitol Records in 2005 and left with ownership of his
catalog.
Nashville-based Big Machine Records is involved with promoting the new cuts to radio; the first single is expected in September. One of the new cuts is reportedly a remake of Huey Lewis’ 1982 hit “Workin’ for a Livin’,” on which Lewis plays harmonica.
Programmers from across the country have been invited to an Aug. 17-18 event in Nashville. Brooks has also scheduled an Aug. 18 press conference there.
The new box will carry a $12 wholesale cost, the typical major label wholesale price of a front-line single-disc album, while catalog titles will carry a $7.85 wholesale cost, sources say.
For more details on Brooks’ potential return to retail, radio and the stage, turn to the current issue of Billboard.
